


he who Sees

by ForFunWithLove



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Blind Character, Blind!Loki, Communication, Everyone Is Gay, Happy Ending, I'll do my best to let everyone sort their shiz out through talking because that's what they deserve, Identity Porn, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Prophet!Loki, Seidr, Sentient Mjolnir (Marvel), Slow Burn, Tony and Loki are bestfriends, Visions in dreams, and everyone is friends okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 15,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForFunWithLove/pseuds/ForFunWithLove
Summary: A (love?) story set in an alternate universe where Tony didn't come out as Iron Man and Loki becomes an avenger instead of Thor. Also Loki is blind but only physically because he's the only one that immediately catches on that Tony is Iron Man.Everything is going fine (you know, as wel as it can in their context) but then Loki starts to get visions again and he doesn't understand one (1) thing about what they're trying to tell him.





	1. So...no pizza?

**Author's Note:**

> oKAY so. This is my first fanfic ever written so be easy on me guys. I know everyone is probably out of character as heck but that's fine, I blame it on the AU thing. 
> 
> That being said I don't know what's going on here but I have a big WIP(that's not a fanfic) that I planned with the MC being blind so I'm using this as some kind of practice. I did make a short cut for myself by making Loki being able to sense certain things with his Seidr (which normal humans can't, by the way, as far as I know). 
> 
> So, I'll probably continue it and make the plot up as I go. 
> 
> Constructive criticism (and info that may help me with writing a believable blind character) is welcome!!!

Loki had had a plan, way back when he came to earth for the first time since the witch hunts. He was impressed with how the technology had...improved(going form nothing to something was an improvement). Maybe that’s why he got off track.

It felt so much different from the Asgardian technology and in Loki’s eyes really simple designs. Or in some cases; simple designs made difficult. It did fascinate him because his seidr could bond with it and it made him able to navigate better.

So yeah, getting off track gain. The plan was to forget what had happened on Asgard, never ever ever mention it and ‘lay low’ for a couple centuries somewhere else.

Both parts of the plan had failed.

Somehow he had become a part of a warrior group. His first instinct was to turn it down but well...he had decided it may be interesting to humour them for a while. Let it be made clear that his decision to be an Avenger had nothing to do with the local engineer. Nothing. He was way too smart to be swayed by a marvel of technology in the form of the Iron Man suit(that wasn’t even made from iron, his seidr told him, very misleading name).

That’s how Loki found himself years later, in the aftermath of yet another battle, not clinging to Tony’s arm.

It had been a really long fight, okay? He wasn’t about to use his magic more than was needed just to see where he was going when he had a perfectly reliable teammate he could (literally) lean on to.

Tony for his part was also limping a little, even in the suit. It wasn’t obvious but Loki felt it anyway. He doubted anyone could see it. Tony was really fond of his theatrics, Loki found out.

“Anyone up for that new pizza place?” Tony asked the other Avengers, a little loud in Loki’s ears. He had never really liked the way the Iron Man mask deformed Tony’s voice.

Clint answered with an also very loud “Hell yeah!”, while the others grumbled an affirmative. Steve was ‘kind’ enough to remember they had to file the mission report first. Loki thought that the medical bay may be the wiser option and he might have said it if his body didn’t decide it was a good time to give out on him.

=<>=

Loki woke up an undetermined time later to the smell of disinfectant. It was unfamiliar to him, not to mention there was someone else in the room. Sleeping, if the deep breathing was anything to go by.

He felt fine, his seidr had recharged since the battle. It didn’t take long for a mage of his calibre, after all. So he let it reach out to the other person’s core. Just to check in. It probably was one of the Avengers but you never know when you could get kidnapped by a worshipper who wants to take over the world together with you and feels apologetic for needing to kidnap you but you wouldn’t answer to his prayers.

Loki couldn’t help but smile when he felt the warmth that was Tony’s core.

He didn’t know if the little non-physical nudge was enough to wake Tony but that was when he started to stir in his chair.

  
“Hey, bambi, sleep well?” Tony said, voice strained in what Loki assumed was him stretching. The odour of sweat made Loki scrunch his nose – he liked to pretend it bothered him, made Tony all squirmy.

Loki turned his face towards Tony for the full effect “How long was I out? A week?”

“Just a few hours,” Tony answered, tapping his fingers on Loki’s thigh, which was how Loki realised his hand was there in the first place. He didn’t say anything about it, no need to waste words on minor things.

Loki hummed, searching for his hair tie ever present on his left wrist but found none.

“You’ve never been out for so long, you sure you all right?”

“I assure you I’m in primal condition, nothing to worry your pretty little head about. It might have been from the lack of sleep,” Loki said, sitting up and then finally swinging his legs over the bed.

“Bad dreams?” There was understanding in Tony’s voice.

“Something like that,” Loki allowed, reaching out for Tony before daring to take a step. Of course he could use his seidr to navigate but where would be the fun in that? Besides, Tony didn’t need to know the extent of how much he could see with the help of seidr. It would seem cheap to ask for his help if he knew Loki didn’t really need it. But prolonged use of seidr could be exhausting. That was the excuse that he was going with, sue him.

It was bad enough that he already memorised the Avenger’s compound.

Tony took the hint; Loki heard one two footsteps before Tony’s upper arm was enveloped by Loki’s hand.

“Where are we anyway? Is this a hospital? You know your healers can’t do much if there really was something wrong with me.”

“No, I know but,” they paused before Loki heard the door being opened “it was more for my sake than anything else.”


	2. Something's up (it's Tony, he likes to fly)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki is ignoring his problems, Tony is flying from them and Steve tries to eat them(the problems, not Loki and Tony, this is not that kind of story.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dudes, getting comments and kudos is such a rush I swear it's better than drugs. I hadn't even expected any kind of reaction lol. Thank you all alot!
> 
> So I'm here with a new chapter which I had a lot of fun with and I think i know where this thing is going, kinda. Some kind of plot is solidifying in my head, but it's going to be a long ride. 
> 
> Again, this is not edited or beta'd(I don't even know how that works) or even reread. 
> 
> Hope you'll all enjoy :D

When Loki was a little boy, so young he still needed help from a wolf to navigate, Odin took him on a trip. 

Loki, being young and naive, was ecstatic. His father rarely had time to spend time with him, being the Allfather and all. Thor was less happy about it. Loki made sure to rub it in as much as he could before it was time to go. 

The first few days there was a lot of walking. They had only used the Bifröst once, after that it was all cuts and slaps from stray branches and leaves. The pace was too fast for him, especially since he hadn’t been allowed to bring Tove(his wolf) along on the journey. 

Loki didn’t say anything about that though, it wouldn’t be long and he would become a man. His father probably already knew so Loki needed to keep him proud.  
At one point they reached the top of a mountain. Loki was happy it was finally cold for a change. 

He was less happy when Odin made him sit down so he could lay the truth on him. 

Loki refused to sit down before hand, of course. So that’s how he found himself on his knees screaming what a liar Odin was and how dare he pretend Loki was his son. 

Anyway, that’s also how he learned he was a natural on the magic front. His seidr was activated by the pure chaotic energy and layed Odin on his ass. 

The day they came back from the fun trip Loki started getting visions.

==<>==

“JARVIS?” Loki said from the middle of his bed, arm splayed over his eyes. 

“Yes, your majesty. How may I be of your service?” JARVIS answered with a mocking tone. 

Loki contemplated ignoring him just out of spite. He had told him countless times to just call him Loki and talk like a normal person to him. But like his maker, JARVIS was a little shit. 

“What’s Tony doing?” 

A pause.

“Sir is in discussion with Iron Man at the moment.” JARVIS said, like he didn’t know Loki knew what was really going on. Tony was probably on a ride in the suit, trying to run (fly?) away from his nightmares or whatever else that got him. 

Loki sighed and decided he had enough of dramatically lying around. 

He had hoped he could avoid sleeping for while longer by talking seidr and tech with Tony. No such luck. 

Who knew how long Tony was going to stay away. At least an hour. Loki didn’t have all that time! Or the patience. Mostly the patience. Not that night with his skin crawling and an ominous feeling in his chest. 

Steve was already in the kitchen when Loki jumped on the counter.

“Good morning! Sleep well?” Steve asked, as if anyone up at five had that luxury.

Loki just shrugged and extend his arm, hand open.

“’Morning. Where’s my coffee?” 

That earned him a laugh but he still heard the coffee brewing not long after. 

When the Avengers first became a thing he hadn’t thought he could...develop any kind of affection for any of them. 

But then they welcomed Loki with (mostly) open arms. They always made sure Loki knew who was in the room even if they didn’t admit to doing it and they let everything exactly where Loki placed it even when it was inconvenient (Loki may have tried to see how far they would let him go. The answer is very.) 

The Avengers even went as far as to actually follow his ‘orders’. It was only little things like ‘get me coffee’, because Loki refused to be seen as anything but as an independent God who don’t need no man. Loki only let them do those things so they would feel better anyway. 

Loki drank his coffee in silence while Steve was gulping down what sounded like a whole buffet. 

Even without using his seidr Loki sensed something was up. 

Steve normally ate like he was feeding a dozen people instead of just one. Loki could relate, his growing years hadn’t been easy. Today was different though. The air around Steve didn’t feel jovial and his tapping foot wasn’t setting a good mood either. What’s more, usually he would be all over anyone that was injured in anyway and since Loki had passed out the day before he would normally be the target. 

Whatever it was, it must be something big.

“What’s got you all squirmy?” Loki asked nonchalantly.

Steve stopped eating. His foot keep tapping though. 

“I-uh...”

Loki nodded, as if Steve had said something intelligent.

“-nothing, something-something personal.”

“I see,” Loki said, putting one leg over the other “something that’s nothing. Care to elaborate?”

“You wouldn’t care to know, it’s-”

“If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have asked, now would I?"

“It’s Bucky. I found Bucky and- and I don’t know how to-” Steve spluttered out, sounding as if he was on the edge of a panic attack, food long forgotten. 

“Bucky as in, your long dead lover?” Loki asked, because he didn’t know when to shut up. 

“No! Well...yes. I think he might still be alive” Steve said, taking a deep breath afterwards. 

“Well, what’s the problem then?” 

“It’s a long story and I- I don’t think Tony’s going to like it,” Steve’s voice was strained “do you promise, whatever I say, you won’t tell him or Iron Man?”

“Cap, you know I can’t do that,” Loki jumped off the counter “but you’re going to be a big boy and tell me anyway. We’re a team, remember?”


	3. sLeEP iS FoR tHE wEAk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cue to Loki slapping himself to stay awake.

Turns out Steve was right about Tony not liking the long story he had to tell. 

Loki could talk himself out of anything but even he didn’t know how you could lay it gently on your friend that your long dead best friend/lover was held captive for decades and also murdered the friend’s parents. 

They did manage to have a heart to heart before Steve went to save his princess.

Loki only knew that because Tony told him and not because he was eavesdropping as the events happened. That’s what he’d tell anyone who’d ask. 

So Steve left and Tony and Iron Man were both adorably pouty. 

The team had started bets on possible polyamorous relationships between Tony, Steve and Iron Man and if it was going to expand when Bucky came along. 

Loki, for his part, didn’t entertain any bets. One, because he was a really good friend and two because he was not sure if it would count as a triad if Tony dated Steve. Because technically both Tony and Iron Man dated Steve in that situation. 

Besides the bets the Avengers were softer around both Tony and Iron Man and did their best to plan more team nights. Sadly Tony and Iron man never showed up at the same nights(they never had). Hopefully they weren’t avoiding each other. 

If Loki couldn’t hold his laughter in every time someone mentioned Tony and Iron man being together it wasn’t his fault and that was that. Really, with the amount of time he cracked up you would think someone else had realised the truth too. Weren’t spies trained for that? 

Loki, being a good hearted person, made it his mission to be less of an annoyance to Tony. 

He didn’t really know how to be pleasant so instead he spend even more time with him than he did before.

If Tony minded he didn’t mention it.

==<>==

Natasha was staring. 

Which, in itself, wasn’t weird. Natasha is always watching, listening. Sometimes she’d stare at the same spot for hours on end. 

After learning that for the first time Loki didn’t know if he should let his seidr wander to her more or never again. 

He came to the conclusion he liked her because when she did speak she (almost) always had his back.

This time the spot she was staring at was him. 

She should get sued for that. Loki was sincerely trying to focus on an audiobook he was reading. His headphone was covering only one ear, for politeness since Natasha’s words were so few and far between that he wanted to catch them immediately when they came. 

He thought spreading himself out on the couch of communal floor would give him some comfort but clearly he was wrong. 

“Do you have something to say or am I just so beautiful you can’t keep your eyes off me?” Loki finally bit out. He hadn’t meant for it to come out that harsh. Rude? Yes, but down a notch. Sadly he hadn’t been capable of restraining his irritation the last two weeks. 

“You’re more beautiful without the trash bags under your eyes.” Why couldn’t she take the bait for once and be angry too? Loki really needed something to lash out on but didn’t have enough energy to do that at the gym. 

No matter what Natasha says, it’s not because of lack of sleep. He got a full 8 hours. In the last three (four? five?) days. 

“I’m always beautiful,” Loki says, pointedly keeping his head turned away from Natasha like it would make any difference. 

He didn’t expect her hand to be on his forehead so suddenly. Luckily he was cool so he didn’t squeak this time.

“You’re hot.”

“Yeah yeah,” Loki slapped her hand away “I’m hot, I’m beautiful. This flattery won’t help you with anything, what do you want?”

“You should get some sleep, you’re ruining yourself more than usual,” she stopped then but Loki knew she wasn’t done “you should talk to someone.”

Loki knew he should do lots of things. That didn’t stop him from not doing them.

Driven by pettiness only he ran (read: walked a little faster than usual) out of the communal floor. Once in the lift he rubbed on his pinkie toe that got attacked by a chair.

His intentions had been to go to his own floor and try to improve some of his spells. 

He found himself in front of Tony’s lab instead. 

==<>==  
Loki felt Tony was startled the moment he walked through the doors.

Something hit the floor, Tony’s body hit something too.

Maybe he shouldn’t have given Loki unlimited lab access if he didn’t want to get haunted at inopportune moments. 

“I’m just here for a nap, untwist your panties,” Loki said, holding one hand up towards where he assumed Tony was.

He probably was in the Iron Man armour, thinking that he just accidentally outed himself. Lucky him that Loki was blind.

Loki manoeuvred his way through the lab to the soft couch without hitting anything this time. To be fair, he did know the lab better than any other part of the tower. 

And maybe Tony’s presence calmed him to such a degree he could think more clearly. 

Maybe.

The calm he had gathered was gone the moment Tony opened his mouth.

“When was the last time you slept?” Tony was closer than Loki anticipated, his breath hit one side of his face. 

“Like you’re one to talk,” he countered and turned his back to Tony, lying on the couch. 

“Hey, I know where my problems lay. Me needing therapy is not the point here, it’s you being the walking dead all over the tower.”

“I can leave if you want, nobody will get bitten,” Loki murmured into a pillow. Tony took a sharper breath than was normal. 

The fabric was so soft he wanted to rub his face all over it. But since he had control he didn’t. 

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Tony’s voice dropped to a softer quality, a crack in the back of his throat coming through, “I’m just worried.” 

Loki brought his knees closer to his chest and Tony took that as the invitation it was. He sat down at the other side of the couch and placed Loki’s feet in his lap, not removing his hands after.

It felt so nice Loki forgot to lash out. So instead he turned on his back to give Tony a better angle at massaging. Also, he didn’t (did not) sigh contently. 

They sat like that for a while. Long enough that Loki almost felt himself fall asleep. 

He almost gave himself the comfort of letting his seidr wrap around Tony, just to feel the warmth, when he heard him cough. 

“You don’t have to tell us what you’ve been through and- you’ve-” Tony paused, licked his lips. What a maddening sound.

“You’re obviously capable of taking care of yourself,” he began again “I just wished you’d let us in sometimes, you know? You don’t have to go through it alone. Whatever triggered you, maybe you should seek out someone to deal with it. It doesn’t even have to be one of us if you don’t trust us enough-”

“It wasn’t anything on the battlefield,” Loki interrupted him, closing his eyes to block the remaining light he could see out. 

The lights in Tony’s lab were really bright, which Loki usually appreciated. He liked to see whatever he still could even if it was just some vague lights. Sometimes though, they made him feel too exposed.

Tony kept on massaging him, slowly. It grounded him and nudged him to move on. 

Maybe (just maybe) Natasha and Tony (and everyone that saw him the last week since he passed out) were right.

He could talk it out. Worst thing he could always erase Tony’s memories afterwards.

“Okay, before you continue if- if you continue, do you promise not to erase my memory again?”

Loki tried not to look shocked at those words.

“Don’t look at me like that, you have a tell whenever you think about mischief. Your mouth does that weird half-smile.”

Loki opened his eyes and held his head up a little just so he could roll his eyes at Tony.

Then he pressed his hand to his mouth to wipe off whatever his mouth was apparently doing.

“It all started when I was born.”


	4. Another man down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rumour came out, does is Loki secretely soft?

Loki’s first vision was set so far into the future he thought it was a normal dream at first. Or a nightmare, if you will.

You couldn’t blame him. He was still full of anger after his trip with Odin and couldn’t exactly think clearly.

Thor may have not known what was bothering him, what had changed his mood so much since the last time he saw him, but he knew (for once in his short life) not to prod.

Instead Thor filled Loki’s silence with his own adventures from when Loki was away. When it was night time he even invited Loki to sleep in his bed, knowing it was sure to comfort him. He even allowed Tove to lay between them.

Loki had wanted to scream at him. They were almost men now! How childish of Thor to imply Loki needed such ‘comforts’. Besides, they weren’t even brothers! Thor needn’t be nice to him any more.

He didn’t say any of that though and just nodded instead. Only because Tove would ruin Thor’s bed and not because of anything else.

He was happy for his own childishness when he woke up with tears streaming down his face. Because Thor was there to hug him and tell him it was okay, it was just another nightmare. Tove’s soft fur also worked wonders for Loki’s nerves.

It wasn’t a nightmare though.

No matter what, his dreams always stayed dutifully in his head.

For another thing, his normal dreams were always only based on everything he could sense but sight.

That one wasn’t though, neither were the ones after, for the longest time. For centuries.

His first thought was it was a blessing, to be able to see, even if only in his dreams. If only it was something else, anything else that he saw, he might have kept thinking that.

He fell asleep again, even more exhausted than before, with his face in Tove’s fur and “I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again” on repeat in his head.

==<>==

“It all started when I was born,” Loki put his hands over each other on his chest.

“Wow, wow wow...no need to go that far. What’s bothering you _now_?”

Had it been any day Loki would have said ‘nothing’. Nothing that concerned Tony anyway.

As it was Loki’s nerves were frayed from lack of sleep and his bones were aching with unreleased magic. The visions wanted to come out and Loki didn’t let them. He wasn’t selfish, the visions were!

He had managed to restrain them for a few years thanks to a series of complicated spells he had to perform every day. They didn’t held up any more though. You really can’t outrun faith, seems like.

Loki took a deep breath and sat up, holding himself up on one hand.

“My visions have come back,” he gulped “they only come through dreams though so I try to-”

“-avoid them?” Tony suggested, his hands now working on Loki’s toes.

Loki nodded and did something with his eyes that he hoped was a side-eye aimed at Tony.

He was taking it a little too well for someone that didn’t even know the extent of Loki’s power. But then again, it was Tony, he had seen a lot in his life time. Especially since becoming an avenger and getting to know Loki. He had needed Tony to know enough about magic to help him out with merging it with Midgardian technology after all. So seeing in to the future may not faze him all that much.

“You haven’t talked about them before, is the future that bad?” Tony tried for a joking tone but it didn’t lighten Loki’s mood. He lay back down anyway.

“I don’t know, I’ve done my best not to see it for years now,” Loki said, like it was no big deal. Like repressing it didn’t also weaken him and make him feel on edge 24/7.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it now,” Tony shushed, clearly sensing something in Loki’s voice. He didn’t know what to think about being so easily read after putting everything in achieving the opposite.

“What about I put a movie up?” Tony asked, hands resting on Loki’s ankles.

“That’d be nice,” he answered, hesitant “not in the-”

“We can watch it here, it’s fine, have any preference?”

Loki pulled his pillow up a bit so Tony could see him shaking his head.

“Mean girls it is then,” Tony said, grin in his voice and Loki snorted and turned back into the pillow.

Tony let go of Loki’s legs for a moment. Afraid he was going to push him away Loki almost stood up, but Tony was faster. He had only moved so he could stretch his legs next to Loki. He hadn’t need to worry because his feet were back where they belonged in no time; in Tony’s lap.

Loki didn’t even hear the movie begin, he was already gone by then.

His seidr was curled up around something warm.

For the first time in a long time Loki slept with the anxiety in his chest numbed, making place for calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe people are reading this lmao THANK YOU GUYS YOU'RE GREAT!


	5. Big Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, back again*
> 
> *will be back, maybe, in the nearby future? But who even knows with these visions.

_Thunder was everywhere, it drowned out every other sound and sensation._

_In the, not so far, distance lightning fell down on the earth. First only one lighting strike, fast and strong. Soon the one lightning strike was joined by countless others._

_If one looked closer, they could see the lightning was not at random but was seemingly summoned in a circle. Surrounding something. Someone?_

_The figure was revealed for a second as the lightning vanished for one two three seconds._

_Mouth stuck in a scream, long blond hair tangled, eyes made of lightning itself._

_The lightning came back and stopped for good after one giant lightning strike fell down on the figure. _

_Their eyes closed. The lightning was gone. _

_Somewhere else, far away from the figure, a hammer lay as if placed with purpose. _

_Around it the ground was destroyed._

_The handle was up, waiting to be picked up. _

  


_==<>==_

Loki woke up calmer and more content than he had ever felt before. Or at least, in a good while. Weird, especially considering the circumstances; ominous dreams aren’t exactly comforting.

Even though he hadn’t allowed himself visions for so long, it hadn’t hurt when one finally forced itself in like Loki had dreaded. It had felt good even.

Despite that, Loki didn’t hesitate to call upon the restraining spells.

Only, this time his seidr lashed out and he found himself screaming out of pain, clutching at his heart as if trying to reach his core.

That _did_ hurt.

“-Lokes, hey, are you awake?” fingers touched his face.

“I’m awake,” Loki strangled out, reaching for the hand, “I’m awake,” he repeated again and gave Tony’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

He didn’t let it go. Even to his surprise he found himself leading Tony’s hand to his own chest. At least that helped ease the pain in his core. He let his eyes open and stared up at the bright ceiling lights. The combination of both made Loki able to breathe normally again.

Loki didn’t feel so inclined to try the vision restraining spells again.

“I’m sorry-” Loki started, after coming back to himself.

He tried to let go of Tony’s hand because how embarrassing to take touch like that, Tony hadn’t even asked him and-

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Tony said while taking Loki’s hand in his own again. He didn’t let go even as Loki sat up right.

“I get nightmares too, it’s okay,” Loki wanted to transform Tony’s voice into something physical so he would always be able to hold it close.

He shook his head, denying Tony’s words and trying to throw the ridiculous thoughts out all at once (it’s called multitasking).

“No dreams,” he admitted.

“Then why were you screaming?”

“Let’s just say I can’t keep the visions away any more.”

==<>==

Loki didn’t know how late or early it was but he went to the communal kitchen to have some breakfast anyway.

Tony followed him to eat together. If it was any other person than Tony, he may have assumed that it was morning. But since he was alike Loki he didn’t care about time and wasn’t the right person to base your clock around.

“I see someone finally got him to sleep,” Clint’s voice rang from the counter, “How’d you do it? Strapped him to the bed?”

“Kinky but no,” Tony laughed, “turns out just the mention of Mean Girls is enough to knock him out.”

Loki just heard the coffee machine start and assumed that’s also where Tony was located right about now.

“I’ll have you know that Mean Girls is the greatest movie of all time and I will not allow it to be disrespected like that!”

Loki rolled his eyes towards Clint’s voice. One hand was on the counter as he walked, trying to reach Clint.

When Loki did get to him (the smell of dog was enough to enlighten him who was in front of him) he reached for one of his arms and signed “Mean Girls 2,” on it while also saying it out loud.

Clint retreated from him with a dramatic gasp, as if Loki’s touch burned.

“How dare you! You know that’s the only movie we don’t mention in this house!”

Loki just turned his back to him, walking towards the fridge, just in time to hide his silent laughter.

Clint was still around, even after Loki had finished making his oatmeal. He had tried to put as many things as possible in it to stall, but even after he felt the bowl was filled to the brim with fruits Clint was still making jokes.

Not that he really minded. He actually liked Clint’s presence. He even stood right next to Loki at the kitchen island while he ate, in case Loki wanted to say something to him. Even with his hearing aids in and his ability to read lips it wasn’t like he could hear everything every time.

Loki tried not to preen at the thought that someone cared so much for his words.

So yes, Clint was a sweet mess. _Their _sweet mess. But while he did feel like he really needed to tell one of them about his visions he didn’t feel comfortable yet to talk about them to everyone. He had felt it for a long time, but for once he decided to listen.

Tony was the logical choice since he already told him about the fact that he could dream the future in the first place.

He did need to get him alone though.

==<>==

Loki managed to corner Tony in his lab again.

Well, it wasn’t exactly cornering since they both ate together (with Clint) and then went back to the lab also together, no words exchanged.

So he didn’t even need to make up a plan for them to be alone. They spend a lot of time together anyway. Loki perhaps hadn’t been conscious of it, but it was true. Which was at the same time unfortunate. He had hoped he could stall some more.

No time like the present-

“I think I’ve found the system that could help you with that spell you asked for last week,” Tony said, leading Loki’s hand carefully to the object he was talking about.

-although the future can also be promising.

So in the end it took more than an hour before Loki gathered his wits to talk about what really needed talking. Not that what they were doing wasn’t interesting but at some point he needed to have priorities, he guessed.

“I think my brother’s coming to Midgard,” Loki spat out suddenly, as a response to one of Tony’s questions that had nothing to do with what Loki just said, by the way.

Tony made a clacking sound as he probably opened and closed his mouth again for a couple of times before settling on “you have a brother?”

“I do.”

“Oh my god, so that means...what other things in Norse mythology aren’t true?” Loki heard a few papers scatter across the work desk when Tony put (slammed) his notes down on it.

“Wait...what about the horse thing?”

“Tony” Loki said, trying for exasperated but not able to wipe the smile off his face.

“Yeah, sorry, talk for another time. So, what’s up then? Need to make preparations, like a great party? We can do that.”

“Not exactly, I don’t actually know when he’ll be here and why.”

“How do you know then? Oh-” Tony gasped “was it from the vision from last night? Did that make you scream, not a fan of family?”

“No, I already told you-” Loki tried to think back if he really did, whatever “it wasn’t from the vision. It was pretty peaceful for me this time, actually. Only when I woke up I tried to repress it again and...” Loki trailed off.

“Could’ve had my therapist tell you that bottling up anything emotional will only come and bite you in the ass later. Her exact words, by the way.”

Loki snorted and brushed a stray of long hair behind his ear.

They kept on working for a while then, falling in a comfortable silence again. Despite that, Loki wasn’t surprised when Tony spoke about the vision again. It was what he was hoping for, anyway. He wanted to talk about _the things_ but he also didn’t really like to initiate it too much. Not yet.

“So, what’s up with your brother then? Any idea what might drive him here?”

“It might be that he’s come to search for me but...” but the vision didn’t exactly look like Thor was feeling at his best, mildly put.

“it can also be that he’s just come to Midgard for some fun and doesn’t know I’m here. I’d rather not make myself public when he’s here.”

“Not make yourself public- Lokes, you do realize there is literally merch of you everywhere? And that you go out and fight everyone on the regular?”

“I don’t fight _everyone_ and besides my brother is dumb enough not to realize,” Loki lied.

He’d rather not think about it any more so he turned away from Tony, his hands came up empty when he searched for something to distract himself with though.

“So, in conclusion...the visions aren’t actually that bad? I mean, if it’s just telling you who’s coming to visit I’d call that more a win than anything else. I have JARVIS for that, but he never tells me when Pep comes with business since ‘Tony, you shouldn’t run away every time you have to sign a paper, it’s your job’. Hey, does that mean you’ll sleep again now?”

Loki managed out a chuckle and squeezed Tony’s hand.

No, the visions weren’t that bad indeed. The last one hadn’t been at least.

He couldn’t believe Thor would manage to lose his hammer somehow. If he was any better a person he would call upon Heimdall so he could warn Thor. The chance was big that even if he did, it would happen anyway. The visions were just vague enough that you almost never knew the why and the how. So Loki could warn someone and then that person would act different which would result in that thing happening in the first place.

No, he would just wait.

Besides, maybe he could get to the hammer first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for: finally some action (kinda).


	6. ugh fans, am I right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where does your heart point you to?

“Mother has told me you’re Jotun,” Thor whispered the morning after Loki’s first vision.

That one sentence was enough for him to be suddenly wide awake and stumbling out of bed, calling for Tove to come with him.

“I still love you, brother”

“You shouldn’t! Imbecile, I’m a monster!”

Loki tried to back further away from Thor, but instead he stumbled right into his chest.

Thor turned him around and shook him by his shoulders, not helping with Loki’s lack of breath. Tove may have been growling in the background but Loki couldn’t tell for certain. The sizzle in his ears was far too loud.

“Listen to me, brother!”

“I am not-” Loki stopped for breath, his lungs weren’t working properly “your brother!”

“We may not share the same blood and yours may be blue, but how could I care when it has always been you at my side since we were both mere babes? It was you who calmed the first time I summoned the storm, wasn’t it? it’s also you who gets on my nerves the most and it’s you who’s opinion I value most, it’s you who’s my brother.”

“Sentimental fool,” Loki said right before slapping his brother. He wasn’t sure if he reached his face or head for that matter but he sure did hit something.

Even though he stormed out of Thor’s chambers into his own and stayed there for a week, at the end of it he was ready to confront <strike>his parents- </strike>Odin and Frigga.

==<>==

After his week of...self-care, Loki was ready to get to work again. He was behind on some stuff but he told himself that was okay since he wouldn’t be of use anyway if dead. Better rest when needed. Now see, that thought still surprised him but it was rammed in his head so much that he became to internalize it. These Avengers were a bad influence on him.

Not that he had really rested the past week, he had literally avoided sleep, but at least he hadn’t touched any work related material.

Loki sat at the bar of a café that was rumoured to have regular witch customers. He liked to come there even when not for business; the music was just at the right volume for him, the customers were mostly calm and he always managed to get a free drink from someone.

That day Loki _was_ there on business.

He sipped on his drink – Midgardian alcohol had the same intensity as water, by the way – until the person he was waiting for would finally approach him.

Loki had felt the unique chaotic witch energy the moment the person walked through the door. He prodded with his seidr, searching for bad intentions and found none. It was then that he put the sunglasses on that he was told were red, so that the witch could identify him.

“Crow at your three o’clock,” a soft but excited voice spoke from his right side, accompanied by the barstool scratching against the floor as ‘Crow’ made place for themselves to sit on it.

Loki turned his face to them and took his glasses off simultaneously (he was told red wasn’t his colour and while that is debatable he’d rather not risk looking anything but ravishing).

“You got it?” Loki asked, right to the chase.

“Yeah, I got the stuff,” Crow whispered loudly followed by the sound of a leather jacket being moved. Loki hoped to Norns they weren’t pushing one side of their jacket aside to reveal ‘the stuff’ as if they were in a bad drugs transaction. There really was no need to act so suspicious but witches _were_ known for their dramatics.

“Do you?” Crow asked.

“I do,” Loki said and took out a coffee mug from his purse and placed it on the counter between them.

Crow made an embarrassingly high pitched squeak.

“Is it really a limited edition Hawkeye mug, with dried coffee that Hawkeye has drank from _and_with with Hawkeye’s lipstick stains?!” they asked, breathless.

Loki rolled his eyes, he owed Clint a small favour for making him wear bright red lipstick while drinking his coffee.

“Yes, the one and only,” Loki confirmed and then stretched out his other hand, that wasn’t still holding onto the mug “now, the compass?”

“Oh, yes, of course of course,” Loki heard Crow fumble for a bit before he felt a cold object in his hand. He curled his fingers and seidr around it to confirm the authenticity.

A smile curled around his lips, “Nice doing business with you,” he said and then downed his drink before making ready to grab his stick and go.

Crow stopped him though, “Wait! Can’t I buy you another drink?”

Loki really contemplated it for a second, but in the end it was really easy to decline.

“Perhaps if our paths may cross again.”

And it was a really good line to walk away after, making his high ponytail swing behind him. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

“-flown away to safety bridal carry in Iron Man’s arms. From our source it isn’t clear if Tony Stark has been injured or not but the conference has been cancelled-” blared from the tv, it started and began abruptly as someone switched through channels.

So instead of walking away gracefully Loki power-walked out of there whilst hitting the shins in his way with his stick in a probably painful manner.

==<>==

Back in the Avenger’s tower Loki wasn’t allowed access to Tony’s lab. JARVIS was very sorry. Loki hoped Tony was too.

What a fool, dealing with his injuries alone. Loki prayed to the Norns that there was at least someone in the known of Tony’s identity that could help him.

He thought about barging into the lab anyway, it would be childsplay, but decided not to. It wasn’t easy to gain some of Tony’s trust and Loki valued it enough not to break it intentionally.

So he allowed himself a few minutes to regulate his breath and then he walked – very calmly – to his own floor. He had important things to do, after all.

==<>==

The compass was useless.

Loki had been running around the tower for hours, because that’s where it kept pointing. That was impossible though. Maybe Thor just hadn’t arrived yet? Maybe his seidr wasn’t able to read it well- no, his seidr was the only part of him that never lied.

He sighed and tried again.

The compass lay in his right hand, covered by his left. Loki sat on the ground of his study in a cross legged posture, chin slightly upturned and eyes closed. After another meditation session, he thought really hard about Mjolnir again.

This time it pointed into another direction. Loki felt something like hope in his chest and immediately put his shoes back on, letting his seidr guide him through the tower and this time away from it.

Loki thought about going back to ask for a driver, when he had walked for a while. His vision _had_ show him a deserted area and New York certainly wasn’t it.

He didn’t get to entertain that thought for long because his seidr suddenly detected Tony in front of him and didn’t care about the compass any more. Traitor.

“Low key!” Tony said, smile in his voice “Light of my life, what are you up to in this lovely part of the neighbourhood?”

“I could say the same to you,” Loki said, quickly putting the compass away.

As he and Tony walked back to the tower together Loki prodded at the compass with his seidr again, only to find it pointed yet another direction now.

Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time a BIG SHIP will be made public :O
> 
> Guess who the love birds are? Paparazzi loves them.
> 
> (PS: I didn't remember what 'bridal carry' was called and I almost posted this with 'bridesmaid style' in it.)


	7. I like what you did with the room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anger issues much?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's awesome about ideas is that they don't care about your bullshit and personal drama; they just want to be created/written down.

Both Tony and Loki had decided to ignore the other’s suspiciousness. From Loki’s side it was at least until they got back to the tower.

He didn’t get a chance to prod because as soon as they got into the lift, Tony ran out at the last moment.

Decidedly not upset Loki got out on his own floor and folded his stick up before putting it back on a little table next to the lift. Next he took his shoes off, hung his coat and only after entering the living room did he take the compass out and threw it across the room.

He was breathing heavily despite having done nothing. Although, holding anger in can also be a tiring activity.

Loki did try to calm himself, controlling his breath, but the familiar ringing in his ears was too strong for him to be able to hold back.

Luckily the pillows and chairs were the only victims.

In the aftermath he stood in the middle of the mess, still heaving but somewhat calmed.

He didn’t know how long he stood still, but eventually Loki straightened and gave a quick brush with his hands through his hair and across his clothes.

“JARVIS, call the witch.”

“Which one, your majesty?”

“You know the one.”

The room was finally filled with complete silence, it only lasted a few seconds though before Crow picked up.

“Hello! New phone, who dis?” Crow’s cheery voice sounded through Loki’s earpiece.

“I hope your mug breaks, you sold me a faulty merchandise.”

“Wow there partner, that’s a strong accusation. You did ask for something that leads you to the thing you want most, didn’t you?”

Loki hadn’t exactly in those words, which made him frown a little at Crow’s formulation but

“It doesn’t bring me where I want it to, it keeps going to the same spot again which is decidedly not where I want to go.”

Crow straight up full belly laughed from the other side of the line. Loki wished they were there so he could strangle them.

“Oh man, this is solid gold,”

“What am I doing wrong?” Loki asked, already frustrated again and trying not to tip over _again_. He couldn’t believe he let a mortal play him like that. They would pay sure enough.

“You’re not doing anything wrong, you just don’t know what it is you want. I can’t help with that man, maybe call a therapist?”

Loki did the mature thing and snapped his fingers which resulted in a blood screeching scream from the witch.

“No!” they cried “my Hawkeye mug! My proudest, most precious possession!”

Loki hung up.

==<>==

After that call Loki stayed on his floor for the rest of the day and ignored all calls from SHIELD. He had made them aware he was feeling well again that morning but his mood was too sour to engage in any missions. And since there was no official ‘Avengers Assemble’ mission he felt it was okay to be petty for a little while longer.

So Loki didn’t retrieve the compass from wherever he had thrown it and decided Mjolnir wasn’t interesting enough anyway.

He spent the day with his fingers in his books, searching for a strong enough spell or potion to remove his visions permanently.

It wouldn’t be an easy feat, just finding spells that repressed the visions had been hard enough, but Loki was desperate enough to try again.

He had been living relatively peacefully and then one vision came along and turned his world upside down again. Why should he even care what the future held for him? It wasn’t his business and the more he made it his business the worse his present was.

Loki couldn’t accept his visions and perhaps he never would. If he died trying to banish them then that was good enough for him too. Remaining having them was the only unacceptable option.

It was way past the time he didn’t feel the sun on his back through the windows any more that JARVIS spoke up.

“Your majesty, sir is asking to be let in, would you grant him access?”

Loki grunted an affirmative and chalked it up to tiredness and not because he really wanted to see Tony again and confirm for himself he was really okay. What had even happened with the assault on him that morning? And him just strolling in the city like nothing happened?

He didn’t get to ask any of that first though (partly because he planned on ignoring Tony for at least half an hour first and partly because Tony started talking first).

“Did you see the news?” Tony asked as soon as he walked into the living room followed by “jezus, what happened here?” and low thump that Loki associated with Tony falling or stumbling over something.

“No, I haven’t had the time,” Loki answered, not turning away from his book. He didn’t need to look down at it but did so anyway.

“Yeah, I see,” Tony tsked, “you probably shouldn’t look it up but since I know you well enough to know you will, I want to clear things up now; me and Iron Man are _not_ together.”

Loki did close his book then but didn’t reach forward towards Tony. It was a sign between them that it was okay to approach him(mostly used when it was evident that casual touch wouldn’t be necessarily welcome), but Loki didn’t want to give in yet.

“I already knew you weren’t, why bring this up?” Tony didn’t answer and gave a sheepish laugh instead “JARVIS?”

“Irony, the coupling of sir and Iron Man is trending on twitter, your majesty.”

Loki didn’t even try to hold his laughter in. That was the best thing that had happened that day, no, that week. He was ready to pester Tony endlessly about and yes, he wouldn’t ever let him live it down. But Loki did have _some_ of his priorities set straight. So he gave in way too soon and stretched out one of his arms.

He also wanted to know why Tony found it so important to inform Loki of the rumour in person since he never cared to something of the sort before.

Instead he stretched out his other arm too, when Tony still didn’t approach him.

Finally, after some grunting and tripping, he felt Tony’s soft shirt under his fingertips.

“I am more interested in the assault, how much of a buffoon are you to walk around after an attack like that?” Loki lectured while prodding his chest and arms with his fingers, searching for sore spots.

“It was fine! I am fine, the bullets didn’t even hit me, you should worry more about Iron Man, he took all the hits after all,” if Tony thought that was even close to enough to calm Loki he was wrong.

“What did they want from you?”

“Ah, you know, the usual, money, weapons etc etc. They were amateurs though, makes me think they were a distraction from something else but I looked around and didn’t find anything yet.”

Loki hummed and patted his way up Tony’s shoulders, across his neck until he reached his face.

Tony had been soft under Tony’s hands, despite the muscles, but the moment Loki went past his cheeks Tony tensed. Jackpot.

“Bambi, sweetie, watch out for the nose will you?”

“You said they didn’t get you,” Loki frowned.

“I said the bullets didn’t get me,” Tony said to which Loki punched him (gently) in the chest.

“Who’s the bastard?” Loki demanded.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t any of the people on the assault team from this morning. They are in jail now anyway.”

“Who did this then?”

“No one, hey,” Tony took Loki’s wrist in his hands, very loosely “I’m fine. Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Mind telling me which hurricane visited you today?” Tony deflected.

“No.”

“Then I won’t tell you either.”

“Fine,” Loki turned his face up and away from Tony and broke free from his hands, “lead me to my room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: cuddles?


	8. anger issues bro's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idiots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say I'm pleasantly surprised to see you're still reading this even though I just used a pirates of the carribean plotpoint(?) just last chapter lol.

Years, centuries, after Loki’s first vision one would think he would have forgotten it by then.

He didn’t.

How could he forget <strike>I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again</strike> those words he said followed by the snap of his own neck?

It was far enough into the future that he would have never guessed the figure was him if his seidr didn’t just _know_.

That may have been a reason to just shrug it off, he would die relatively young but at least he would die doing what he loved most; annoying someone.

What made him so uneasy was his brothers scream. And perhaps also who’s hand was around his neck in the first place.

True to himself he never told anyone about that very first vision.

He did tell Frigga about having them, the moment he started having them every night.

After that he got lessons for that too, besides the lessons about seidr he already followed.

Odin and Frigga were able to teach Loki to control the visions in some way. Or to at least let them flow better. His parents didn’t see the same things as he did nor did they in the same way, but they did know enough that they could help.

Loki got inspired by Frigga’s weaving tapestries of people’s lives. He was maybe also a tiny bit jealous that her visions were never personal. So he tried to extend the visions tentacles to other people as well.

That’s how he got an oracle title.

Keeping his own future at bay kept him sane.

For a while.

==<>==

Loki woke up rested and half draped over something warm and solid.

_Someone, Tony, _his seidr told him.

Loki was fairly certain he could recognize Tony by smell alone too, but that wasn’t something he wouldn’t ever admit to out loud. Even though it was normal since he relied a lot on his hearing and smell, it felt different somehow.

Loki smiled and stretched some more, taking more place on Tony’s chest. What? He just woke up and couldn’t be held accountable for any of his actions.

“G’morning,” Tony whispered. One of his arm was around him, the other held upwards likely holding something.

Tony waved it away when Loki felt his way up Tony’s arm to his wrist.

“Careful, I’m barely holding this thing up with one hand.”

“What is it?” Loki murmured into Tony’s collarbone.

“SHIELD tablet, didn’t trust me enough with the information alone to just send it to me, I had to get the whole second-hand technology too,” Tony tried for annoyed but his tone fell into amused instead.

“Hmmm, making you search for Fury’s cat again?”

“It isn’t technically Fury’s but no, not this time,” Tony chuckled, the arm around him squeezed him slightly. Loki almost purred.

“Something less interesting this time. UFO’s, but like only UO’s because now they’re not flying any more but they still don’t know what they are.”

Loki perked up a little at that.

“Anything interesting?”

“Well, cupcake, this is classified information so no can tell. Although, this is kinda boring anyway, like… something that looks suspiciously like alien underwear? Why do they even need me to look at this stuff?”

“Perhaps I could help identify some things, if you describe them well enough to me.”

“Oh, this sounds awfully similar like you scheming something,” Tony shifted and then there was a hand brushing Loki’s cheek before tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

Loki sighed but leaned into the hand anyway.

“Are you still not letting me heal your nose?” Loki asked instead, surely Tony didn’t expect him to spill all his potential secrets, that would be hypocritical of him.

“No, I want this to heal on its own, I really deserved it,” Tony sounded determined so Loki let it go even though he didn’t believe Tony could ever deserve any kind of pain. Despite popular belief, Loki did know to pick his battles.

“Your majesty, Dr. Banner is asking if you’re still committed to the yoga session you asked for yesterday.”

“Tell him I’m coming to his floor in a minute,” Loki said, already slipping away from under Tony’s arms. There was a possibility he already missed the (also possible) comfort, but that could also be the sleep drunkness so the jury is still divided on that one.

Tony for his part wasn’t having any qualms about whining and playfully pulling Loki back into the hug.

“Tony, I need to go if you don’t want me to re-arrange the whole tower’s interior too.”

Tony laughed, not loosening his grip on him at all “I don’t know, I kinda liked what you did with your living room. It has a certain je ne sais quoi.”

“Tony.”

“Fine,” Tony reluctantly let go “you sound just like Pepper sometimes, you know that?”

Loki smirked and jumped out of bed, already stripping out of his sleep clothes and walking towards The Chair where he had already set out comfortable clothes for his ‘date’ with Bruce.

On an unrelated note he also heard Tony choke on something behind him.

“You all right there?”

“Yeah,” Tony said still coughing “I just choked on my own spit.”

‘Nerd’, Loki thought affectionately. He might have also said it out loud.

==<>==

“You seemed really relaxed today,” Bruce said with a suspicious tone, at the end of their yoga session.

Loki hummed while he stretched for the sky.

“Normally you almost coax the hulk out at least two times before you’re done. Something good happen before you came here?”

Loki shook his head but thought back anyway. Nothing had gone his way before he had come there, that’s why he came in the first place. For his and the public’s safety. So Bruce’s remark was weird to say the least.

He stretched his head from side to side slowly as Bruce suddenly snapped his fingers “Oh! Did you spend time with Tony?” Loki didn’t like how knowingly he said that. As if there was anything to know.

“Yes I did,” he said and stretched downwards to flatten his hands on the ground “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“I hope you’re only playing dumb right now.”

“Whatever.”

There was a blessed minute of silence as they both continued to cool down and Loki was just starting to be relived Bruce was done the moment he opened his mouth again.

“Isn’t Tony together with Iron Man and Steve, by the way? How does that work? Or is your relationship like, strictly squishy? Or is _their_ relationship strictly squishy?”

“Are you trying to win ground on the bets right now?” Loki said, unbelieving.

“No! No, I just-” Bruce sighed “okay, maybe a little.”

“I think you of all people should know that Tony is married to his work and isn’t that much into relationships any more,” Loki said while rolling his yoga mat up.

“What I know is that Tony uses his work as a distraction, not as an exclusion of relationships. And _you_ of al people should know that he always makes room for the ones he cares about.”

Loki didn’t even spare that an answer and walked towards the lift instead with a strict “Bye”.

He didn’t even stay around for a smoothie or two because he had work to do. Maybe also because he didn’t like how Bruce just used his own phrase against him. Or because it made him think about what he had sworn to himself he wouldn’t.

He knew only madness lay that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put 'slowburn' and sure enough everything is going really slow(because I'm figuring the story out as I go lmao)  
but Tony and Loki are already acting as if they're dating??????  
They just don't know it yet?????? Oh my god how long before they rEAlIzE?????
> 
> (also, I myself just realized this is a infinity war/endgame fix-it in disguise)


	9. Tony stop picking up strays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fAcE yOuR PrOBlEMs or they'll come bite you in the ass just like so

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I don't know if in the canon verse Mjlornir could be picked up by anyone. And then only after the first Thor movie when Odin put that worthy enchantment, only the worthy could, but that's how it is here. So Loki doesn't know about that worthy thing because he wasn't around, lol. (maybe it was obvious but ye)

_In the depths of Asgard there were footsteps echoing. The only sound accompanied by the breath of a running figure. The figure itself couldn’t be made clear as it kept to the shadows. _

_If one had blessed sight, one could see the figure was surrounded by green and gold seidr. _

_Parts of it lingered ahead as if guiding the figure._

_Long, black hair shined as the figure passed a patch of light._

_They didn’t pause for a second as they surely had a mission._

_Flicker flicker flickering_

_Gold_

_Green_

_Gold_

_A large, horned crown was held up then_

_Green_

_Fire_

“_With the eternal flame, you are reborn.”_

_==<>==_

Loki had spend the last four days stubbornly looking for a way to banish the visions away forever.

He had had not even come close to something more than the spells he already had used before. Every time he went to sleep he thought a vision would come for sure, since before he had them every night. Fortunately he didn’t, until now.

He might have even been a little happier (only 2 visions in almost a week, superb!) had it not been that hist latest vision was a repeat of one he already had had before.

That day he got that vision was perfectly ingrained in his memory. It was coincidentally also the day he had left Asgard for good.

Loki lay starfish style on his bed, trying to catch his breath and wrap his mind around what his life had become. What it could (will) become.

He wasn’t really fond of that activity so when his SHIELD pager went off, he leapt for it immediately.

==<>==

“Where are we?” Loki asked, straightening his tie as he stepped out of the quinjet. He didn’t bother with the stick and used his seidr instead to navigate.

Not that there was a lot around, they had landed in the middle of nowhere. Loki would have thought it may have been their way of subtly trying to kill him but besides the energies of a few agents, there was also a distinctly familiar one nearby.

“New Mexico desert, you’re here to help relocate a highly radioactive object.” Coulson answered from behind him.

“Wouldn’t Banner have been a better choice then?” Loki said, already walking towards the object.

Turns out that sometimes you don’t even have to turn the whole upside down to get what you want. Loki did his best not to grin too hard.

“You know how he can be,” Coulson sighed. Loki knew so he didn’t say anything.

“There is also always a chance that it could affect him negatively, we have no idea what this thing is.” It was true that sending someone who could lift objects up without touching them was more effective.

“What does it look like?” Loki asked anyway and stopped right in front of Mjolnir.

He also took a moment to detect his brother’s energy, but there was nothing of him around besides Thor’s lingering energy on Mjolnir

“A hammer, but no one can lift it up. The agents who did are in quarantine, just in case.”

“Maybe you mortals are just too weak,” Loki suggested before finally picking Mjolnir up.

He heard Coulson taking a step towards him as he did so, to stop him.

“It’s safe for me, but I’ll need some time to determine if it’s dangerous for any of you and if it is, how to cure it” Loki lied and then turned to Coulson, “may I?” As if he needed permission to do whatever he wanted to.

It did strike Loki as strange that no one had been able to pick her up. Maybe Thor had enchanted it so no mortal could?

==<>==

There had been a minor argument of where to keep Mjolnir. In Loki’s lab section at the tower or at SHIELD? So they compromised and Loki placed an illusion at SHIELD’s while carrying the real thing in a pocket dimension.

Loki’s day couldn’t have been better (ignoring what had woken him up that morning) right up until he walked into the living room at the common floor.

“Loki!?”

Now that wasn’t a voice he had heard in a long time. In fact, he had done his best not to.

“What’s he doing here?” Loki hissed, taking a step back. The only reason he hadn’t bolted yet was because his seidr sensed Tony was in the room as well.

“He’s Jane’s friend, he seemed cool. You know each other?” Tony answered nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just inadvertently ended Loki’s life.

Loki wanted to question Tony’s habit of bringing strays in but he didn’t get to since he got locked into one hell of a bear hug instead. He could count himself lucky if his lungs still worked when Thor let him go. If he ever planned to.

“Get off of me, you oaf!” Loki pushed Thor away after a few seconds of indulgence.

Thor didn’t listen, “I thought you were- you were dead...” he squeezed Loki even harder.

After a full minute of Loki squirming, Thor clinging and Tony sipping on his coffee Thor put a little distance between them.

“Brother, how did you survive? Why didn’t you come back to us?”

Luckily that’s when Tony decided to intervene. Bless him, because otherwise Loki would have been pushed to fake his death again. Although Thor would probably not fall for it at that moment.

“Wait, wait wait...that’s your brother?! I thought he was just a hipster junkie genius with a god-complex and too many muscles that just needed some help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I have nothing to say for myself except I was being hela pretentious about where I wanted this story to go (and that's exactly why I haven't finished 1 story till present day) so my goal now is to just finish it without beating myself up about it being 'perfect' or whatever. THIS IS MEANT TO BE FUN AFTER ALL OH MY GOD. Okay.
> 
> Hope y'all have a nice day!!!


	10. Oof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some Heavy Talk TM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why does this have a plot I only wanted LokixTony fluff???? And it keeps getting pushed forward???? Whatever, I kinda like this anyways.  
(I have like half of a sex scene already written so maybe that's something to look forward to if u have patience because that's not going to happen any time soon lol)

“Brother, tell me, what did you see? What had such an impact on you that it drove you away?”

Loki had not planned on staying at all, but somehow he found himself opposite his brother, each on a chair in the communal kitchen. Tony, the traitor, must have kept everyone away so Loki and Thor could have a cute little brotherly moment. Really, if Loki had any sanity left he would have already been realms away.

“What made you think it had anything to do with my condition? Perhaps I was so tired of your oafish self I decided I needed a long vacation. And even if you’re right, I would not tell the likes of you.”

“Who will you tell then? The mortal you’re so fond of?” Loki almost had whiplash at how fast he turned around towards his brother. He also immediately realised it was a mistake, even before he heard his brother’s chuckle.

“It doesn’t matter to me, as long as you tell someone. The burden of the future shouldn’t be carried on one person’s shoulders alone.”

“What do _you_ know about that?” Loki should stop being so emotional but for some reason he just couldn’t help but let some of his frustration out.

“How couldn’t I when I saw the pain it caused you. I also saw how mother and father helped each other with the burden of the future, similar to the one you carry. Only they didn’t carry that burden alone.”

“_Didn’t_...brother what are you saying?” Loki suddenly felt the beginning of a heavy feeling in his stomach.

Thor took a step, Loki couldn’t tell which way and he didn’t want to waste his seidr on this but he guessed towards him. The familiar heavy hand on the back of his neck eased the feeling a bit but not by much. He didn’t want to hear it but-

“Mother and father they- passed away, I am so sorry you have to hear it like this...”

Tactless brother, some things never change.

Can’t keep his hammer, can’t keep himself in Asgard, can’t keep his parents.

When Loki first saw Thor again after so long, one hour ago, he hadn’t thought Thor was after him. He didn’t hold the same pettiness Loki did. But Loki was sure that with him so close Thor wouldn’t pass the chance of hurting him. So that is a valid reason for running away. Now however, Loki wanted to run away for a whole different reason.

It had nothing to do with the prickling of his eyes, the heaviness in his chest or the straggling feeling of nausea. He just wanted some air because he liked hearing New York traffic so much.

That’s all.

So he did.

Thor’s heavy footsteps were close behind him though he knew not to touch him in that instant. Nice to know his brother still had some survival instincts left. So they stayed like that for a while. Loki leaning on the balcony, regulating his breathing and blinking rapidly while looking upwards and Thor staying a metre behind.

Loki surprised himself by breaking the silence first.

“Who was it?” Loki asked, _who was it I wasn’t there to stop. _

“Father wasn’t killed,” Thor said, voice a rare soft quality.

Loki took his hands off the railing, holding them behind him instead. He kept his back to Thor though, not sure how composed his face was. In his opinion he had a perfect poker face but it’s better to take precautions.

“But mother,” Loki said, not choking.

“But mother...” Thor repeated, guilty almost, “the dark elves took her.”

Loki clenched his fists.

“Mother’s killer is dead,” Thor assured him.

“Thor, why are you here?”

“I was sent away,” Loki frowned and turned around then, fists still clenched.

“By whom? You are king-”

“Turns out we have a sister, she’s not that kind you see. Father at least let me stay in Asgard even after what I- after mother died. Hela had no qualms about throwing me out.”

Loki took a deep breath, finally having found some kind of grip on himself, and unclenched his fists. The heaviness was not important, it was in the way.

“What I don’t understand is how this is my problem. Why haven’t you gone back then? Or is king duty too hard for you? I always thought you weren’t fit for it. Maybe our dear sister could do a better job.”

“The _problem_ is that she’s destroying Asgard and last I checked that’s your home too.”

“What was your plan before you found me? Why didn’t you just fly Mjolnir back?”

Loki was actually curious about that, if a bit concerned for his pocket dimension if Thor would call her right that moment.

Thor didn’t though, he was silent instead.

“Well?”

“I am unable to wield her”

“Beg you pardon?”

“Father enchanted it while he was still alive, I am not good enough for her now. She did follow me to Midgard but I can’t touch her,” Thor said, his tone grave.

If it had been any other day Loki would have laughed at his brother’s failure. But it wasn’t so he didn’t. He didn’t console him either. Of all the things he could have consoled him for that was the most laughable one.

Instead Loki thought about what that meant for him, the coward, to have be able to pick Mjolnir up while his brave brother couldn’t. Fair enough, he always could, like anybody else. It had just been something of Thor’s so nobody did. Thor didn’t say anything about others wielding her now after the enchantment, only him. What kind of failure must he have proved himself to be for Odin to punish him like that?

“I can’t lift Mjolnir until I can prove myself worthy. Saving Asgard will surely be enough, won’t you help me brother?”

Loki stayed put, for once deciding not to lash out.

“I don’t know where she is and I cannot fight without her Loki please-”

Loki was tired. Tired of the day, tired of the conversation and tired in general. He didn’t want to have anything to do with any of the things Thor had just said.

“I cannot help you, if I go Ragnarok will surely fall upon us.”

In an impulsive streak he let Mjolnir fall out of one of his pocket dimensions and teleported himself away. There, he had his hammer, now he could leave Loki alone. Surely any random person could help him carry Mjolnir for him though Loki didn’t know what good she was for Thor when he couldn’t wield her.

==<>==

Loki prided himself on being composed and put together at all times. He felt that crumble the moment he appeared in Tony’s workshop. He didn’t even know why he was there of all places. Maybe to tell Tony to send Thor away?

Even if that had been his goal, it wasn’t what he did.

As soon as Tony was in reaching distance Loki embraced him from behind and buried his head in the crook of his neck.

Tony gasped and turned his head, his chin touching Loki’s cheek.

“Family reunion already over?”

Loki didn’t say anything and pulled Tony closer. His heart was heavy but with Tony’s support he felt breathing was slightly easier. Feeling his heartbeat under his fingertips was also doing wonders to calm him. Tony’s hands were warm atop of his.

They stayed there in silence for what wasn’t nearly enough.

“I can’t go back to Asgard,” Loki blurted out. He knew Tony didn’t have nearly enough information to be of any help, but still. It wasn’t what he wanted to say but he knew that if it wasn’t that it would be about Frigga and if he started he didn’t know if he could stop until after he drowned in tears.

“Why not?” Tony asked, squeezing Loki’s hand.

_Revenge on mother wouldn’t be enough, I’ll be Asgard’s end if I ever dare to approach it._

“My visions-” Loki began, feeling he owed Tony some kind of explanation but not knowing how to continue.

Tony waited though, steady heartbeat an anchor until Loki found his words.

“If I go back I’ll cause the end of days but if I don’t....”

“That’s a bit overdramatic,” Tony hummed and stroked Loki’s hand.

“Are you sure that’s what’s going to happen? In movies visions are always misleading, maybe ‘the end of days’ will happen _because _you didn’t go and inadvertently because of you.”

Loki lifted his head up at that, he hadn’t ever thought about it like that. He had just assumed-

“Cheer up buttercup, want to netflix and cuddle? I don’t think you’ll be any good to any world right now, no offence but you look like you’re just about to transform into a zombie.”

Well, a little sleep wouldn’t hurt. Loki wasn’t about to do anything to help Thor. No matter what Tony said or what his visions truly meant to tell him, Loki was only a destroyer and nothing more. It was better to keep distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make things clear: Odin did make that worthiness enchantment on Mjolnir but he didn't send Thor to Midgard because he sensed he was about to die (of old age) and with Frigga dead and Loki off radar a succesor was needed on Asgard. Frigga died because the dark elves came and Thor did stupid stuff that resulted in her death and then Odin was like 'no Mjolnir for u'.  
And then not long after Odin died because he was old and Hela came to wreck havoc and just yeeted Thor to Midgard. 
> 
> I'm saying this because I'm not sure I will touch much upon it later. 
> 
> Also:  
Marvel cinematic universe plot: exists  
Me: I'm going to destroy this man's whole career
> 
> ALSO ALSO:  
I really appreciate it when u guys point out mistakes because I don't have any beta and I just reread it one or two times myself so THANK YOU


	11. working towards healthy habits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of the story but it's Tony's POV.

Contrary to popular belief, Tony doesn’t actually know all that much. Yeah, sure, he knows robotics, physics, engineering, mathematics and all that other sweet sweet sciency stuff, but other than that? Not much.

His therapist Rue is really helpful and Tony loves her – she’s no Bruce but maybe that’s better since she doesn’t fall asleep as he tells her his newest antics. Thanks to her he’s learned to be a little easier on himself and his emotional intelligence at least exists now. That doesn’t take away that he still is clueless like, 95% of the time.

What he does know is Loki. Not details of his pain or his past of course, not many that’s for sure, but he has made peace with that a long time ago. It’s not like he has been totally transparent either what’s with the secret identity and all.

Anyways, he knows Loki. He knowswhen he needs to be distracted from whatever is bothering him, when he needs to vent, knows when he’s in a good mood, when he feels like his skin is crawling and needs an outlet and he also knows when he needs a nap while cuddling under the pretence of watching a movie. The last one was also the position he coincidentally found himself in at that moment.

They were on the couch in his lab like they often were; Loki sprawled across Tony’s chest, lightly snoring and Tony gently playing with his hair. Loki liked to put it up in a series of complicated hairstyles and he was gorgeous in all of them – high ponytail a favourite. Nothing beat his hair free in the wind like Pocahontas though. Tony was probably just biased because you can’t play with sparkled braids.

Loki was fierce and hard even in his sleep. Tony found there was softness underneath all the sharp edges. He could always see it though it was easier when Loki was off to dream land. His feelings were more obviously painted on his face like that.

Tony sighed and dangled his head to his left. His is eyes fell on his latest project, waiting from him on the table. Top Secret, keep out, no touching etc. etc.

It felt a little risky to have it laying around like that. He hadn’t had any time to put it away when Loki barged in though and he hadn’t counted on anyone coming. No one had unlimited access besides Loki and Pepper (who only came at reasonable hours and always announced herself first).

Besides, the only one who wasn’t allowed to see the project yet was Loki.

Hopefully he wouldn’t be in a tinkering mood when he woke up. Because while he couldn’t physically see it, he sure could sense it.

Which led him to think about what else was going to happen when Loki did wake up.

He could distract himself for a while with breathing exercises and Loki pressed against his chest, but there was no denying he fucked up. Major time.

Sure, Loki hadn’t been all smiles before Tony somehow managed to get his (estranged?) brother into his home, but then again when was Loki ever?

“Did you even sleep at all?” Loki suddenly murmured from under his chin, hand reaching for Tony’s absent-mindedly.

So Tony knows little in general and some about Loki, almost none of which said out loud by Loki himself.

And that’s fine.

Except it’s not because Tony doesn’t know nearly enough to be able to help Loki with whatever made him crash down now.

He knows not to push. If he is not trusted enough then that’s that and he really shouldn’t butt in and make everything worse than it already is. But-

Isn’t that what he’s best at anyway?

“No, someone had to watch the movies because someone else happened to fall asleep and these masterpieces cannot be ignored.”

Loki scoffed and buried his face deeper in his chest. Tony’s heart always managed to jump a little whenever he did that. What a traitor.

“Is Thor still here?” Loki asked.

“JARVIS?”

“Prince Thor is indeed still in the building, Sir.”

“Thank you, you’re a sweetie,” Tony blew a kiss at the nearest camera.

Loki frowned at the answer though and pushed himself up.

“Why is he- no, why was he even here in the first place?”

Oh, yes, there it is. Tony almost winced at the unfamiliar, harsh tone of Loki’s voice.

“Well...” Tony coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Jane might have propositioned him to me? And I _might_ have seen some potential in him? And I _might_ have offered him some training with the Avengers?”

==<>==

What might have been an hour of or so of cuddling and science talk on any other occasion, turned into Loki refusing to leave the lab, or the couch for that matter, and urging Tony into assessing the situation.

Tony was a good boy and did what he was told.

But he also had his priorities straight and went for a cup of coffee first. He didn’t drink as much as before – turns out coffee was one of the culprits that affected his sleep and Loki wouldn’t cuddle with him any more if he didn’t get at least 12 hours of sleep in 48 hours, so demanding (and hypocritical) – but he still craved it.

So that’s how he found himself at the front line of whatever it was he just saw.

Bruce and Thor walked into the communal kitchen, _laughing_ and _casually touching _each other.

Tony was sure that his eyebrows disappeared somewhere way beyond his hairline, probably a few galaxies away. Because what – and he can’t stress this enough – the fuck? He had to bury his nose into his coffee and almost choke on it just so he wouldn’t say anything like the smart ass he is.

Tony’s mouth may run off without him 24/7, but he did have some restrains, mind you.

And he knew that mentioning anything was the last thing Bruce needed. The man rarely let anyone so physically close to him. Especially not after not even a day of knowing them.

Even after all the work he did on himself to remain balanced, he was still afraid he might snap and do something he regretted as Hulk. Saying anything might just remind him to go back into his shell again.

But Tony couldn’t help a wink as they approached him at the kitchen counter. Which he leaned against, very suave.

“Goodmorning,” They said, in sync. Tony grinned.

“’Morning, sunshines, what’s up?”

“We need your help,” Bruce said, straight to the point.

Before Tony could say anything he pointed to his right. Tony blinked and turned his head to see a random hammer(?) just laying there in the middle of the kitchen. How hadn’t he seen it before? Okay, maybe he was still a little bit depended on caffeine if he couldn’t even notice huge, strange objects right in front of him, without at least one coffee. He was working on it.

“Ah, yeah, I was totally wondering about that thing too uh huh...so what seems to be the problem? Need me to make it prettier?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for: 'goddammit Loki, sTOp RuNNinG aND FAcE YoUR LifE. Oh...you did, Nice.'


	12. doing good for dummies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making the right choice isn't always easy.   
I mean never.

I t hadn’t been easy to train his ‘gift’. For years Loki just had to endure whatever glimpses into the future he got. 

After the initial shock he came to enjoy it, not all of them made him taste blood. Some of them were soft and sweet instead. He lived for those visions.

Still, there was no challenge Loki hadn’t tackled so he kept training, kept going form realm to realm to seek more information about controlling and giving a redirection to the visions. Like most things, he didn’t exactly know what to do once he accomplished his task.

The whole ‘oracle’ thing was mother’s idea. Loki only decided to do it to indulge her a little bit. He had planned to drop it after a few seasons.

Strangely enough he found himself enjoying seeing others prospering because of him. He had always loved attention but until then he rarely got the pleasant kind before. And yeah, Loki was at least big enough of a person to recognize it was because of him at that point. Listen, he enjoyed finding new limits to his magic, how could he possibly have known not everyone appreciates when those limits happen to involve fire and/or explosions?

So  after he established himself ‘oracle’, every nigh t  he went to sleep with a person’s question in his head  and  one random possession of theirs under his pillow. 

At first he felt liberated.

Many would say Loki is self-obsessed and he acknowledged the truth in that, but even that had his limits. Seeing seemingly random bits of your future every night could become disconcerting. For Loki it was disconcerting from the first night but whatever.

So he enjoyed to see the future of Asgard through thousands of eyes and Asgard in return was grateful. He couldn’t see why, but he accepted their thank you’s anyway.

He did make himself stop once he only saw Asgard burn no matter through who’s eyes he looked.

Asgard didn’t understand why because he refused to tell them. They knew Ragnarok would come, it was written in stone after all, they just didn’t know when. Chaos would erupt if they knew how close it was.

Maybe Loki could find a way to help before it happened?

The people of Asgard had always been more inclined to ask for his advice and accept his help after he became the ‘oracle’. Perhaps they would still find it in them to accept him?

==<>==

Present day Loki had grown past the naive notions that he could possibly save anyone from the upcoming disaster. He knew that if anything, he would be the reason of the destruction in the first place.

He thought he had long accepted that but there he was, pacing back and forth, occasionally refraining himself from biting his nails.

Tony’s words still gnawed at the back of his mind.

He had done nothing and the future still seemed to stay the same, if the repeated vision from the day before was anything to go by.

And if he couldn’t stop Ragnarok, maybe he could  save the aftermath? Asgard would be destroyed but that didn’t mean its people needed  to  too.

Impulsive as it may have been, Loki made a decision.

He snapped his fingers as to let his seidr clothe him and then walked to the elevator. Okay, maybe he could have also just teleported to the communal floor but that took a lot of energy. That’s the excuse he went with because whatever else he may be, Loki was certainly a coward at heart and needed time to mentally prepare for the decision he just made.

Since he as still all over the place he misplaced the position of the worktable by a centimetre and almost managed to give it a full body hug. Luckily he found his footing before that happened with a hand on the surface as support.

He hadn’t been focused enough to feel the high energy on the object before he touched it, but when he did it certainly piqued his interest.

Tony and Loki had a lot of projects together and sure they also liked to work on them apart sometimes, but Tony always consulted him before trying anything magic related.

Loki almost pocketed the thing, but caught himself and left it alone.

It was a bad habit.

He could discuss it with Tony instead of thieving around. Besides, there were more pressing manners at the moment.

==<>==

“Good morning honey plum!” Tony greeted him the moment Loki stepped out of the elevator. He was in the communal kitchen and his seidr told him he wasn’t alone.

He acted as if they didn’t sleep together and then Loki kicked Tony out of the lab to kick Thor out (because of the afore mentioned cowardice) and just saw each other for the first time that day. Which Loki appreciated.  _Someone_ had to keep his reputation alive.  Whatever was left of it.

“Goodmorning-” Bruce started but was interrupted by Thor who reached Loki faster than Loki was able to reach them and placed his heavy hands on his shoulders. 

“Brother, why didn’t you tell me you could lift Mjlonir?”

Loki did his best to school his face in the most unimpressed expression he could manage. What kind of question was that?

“It didn’t seem important, father didn’t curse everyone, only you didn’t he?”

Thor’s grip on his shoulders became stronger, the impatience radiated off of him.

“Father didn’t curse anyone, haven’t I told you? Only the worthy can wield Mjolnir.”

“No you haven’t, you told me-”

“So does that mean you don’t need me to tinker with the hammer? I was really looking forward to it.”

L oki frowned and recognized then that Mjolnir was this there where he left it the day before, hoping it would be enough for Thor to finally leave him alone. Thor was right then, only the...worthy(?) could wield her, otherwise Thor would have already been gone with some random person. Probably.

“It will be awesome if it would be possible for us to still study it eh...her-if you’re not in any hurry?” Bruce said, he had moved closer to where Thor and Loki still stood. Thor let Loki go and turned towards Bruce. 

“We certainly are in a hurry but since my _little brother_ here is still as stubborn as ever we won’t be leaving as of yet, you are welcome to do whatever you please,” Loki had a feeling Thor was probably pointedly looking at him, though his tone softened at the last sentence.

Loki thought of telling him about his change of mind, but he was still petty enough that Thor’s words were enough for him not to tell him anything just yet. Hopefully his unusual silence at Thor’s jab wasn’t going to alert his brother. 

He was right that they couldn’t leave right now anyway, just Mjlonir and his Seidr (however powerful) weren’t going to be enough to help Asgard. 

Bruce softly thanked him but Tony answered in a more eccentric way. 

There was the sound of a cup on the counter and then the clap of hands.

“Great! What are we waiting for then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for: ??? uh oh ????


	13. Sweet Dreams Are Made of Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Talking TM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at me, continuing this!!!
> 
> It has been months and I haven't read the other chapters over well, hopefully there aren't too many weird contradictions lmao.  
If u see some, please tell me.

_Loki knew immediately it wasn’t his vision. For one thing the energy enveloping it was different and for another the Loki in the vision was seen in a different way than he usually saw himself. _

_There was no chaos or destruction in this person’s future. Which was weird since Loki was in it. _

_Instead a calm and white sea was overhead, soft pink sand between the toes and three suns setting._

_The Loki in the vision was laughing with a group of people while physical Seidr enveloped them in playful ways. _

_They were far away but the person caught up soon enough when he started running._

_Vision Loki lit up when he sensed the person coming. _

_He saw then that Vision Loki’s hand was held by Vision Tony’s. All the other Avengers were there. As well as a bunch of people he didn’t recognize at all. _

_The person reached out to touch Vision Loki’s neck._

_“Brother-“_

==<>===

“Brother!”

That he was shaken by what he just had seen was an understatement. He was also _slightly_ irritated he was rudely waken up. It was already a miracle he had even fallen asleep in the quinjet.

Loki had laid his AmazinG PlanTM upon the Avengers and Thor. Although ‘Avengers’ was a little too much for the small ragtag team that only consisted of Bruce and Tony at the moment. The others were on far away long-terms missions.

Now, they weren’t exactly thrilled with every step of the plan, probably sensing Loki left out some things. But they did agree with the overall gist of it.

That’s why they decided to travel to a SHIELD facility that managed space travel. Of course Loki could just pop in and out of Asgard whenever he wanted. But the others couldn’t. And if they wanted to save all of Asgard they couldn’t just show up empty handed. ‘Yeah, we’re here to save you, hop up on my back’.

The whole Ragnarok happening hadn’t been received that gracefully, especially not by Thor. But Bruce and Tony were pragmatic and loyal if nothing else. Which is why they agreed to help so fast. Now was only the question who else was willing to. SHIELD was the first one they were willing to try. To be honest, if Tony asked they didn’t really have any other choice but to agree to help. Gods know that man has a lot of favours in way too many places.

Loki grunted and stretched his arms above his head. After so many centuries of not seeing Thor he had almost forgotten how obnoxious he could be.

“What?” Loki asked irritated after a prolonged amount of time where Thor said nothing.

“We’re here,” Thor said.

Letting his Seidr roam free told him that they were indeed not moving anymore. Also he and Thor were the only people left. Traitors.

“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier then?” Loki asked as he already stood up and made for the exit.

“Stark told me you needed it and-” Loki heard Thor stand up too, “I wanted to talk to you.”

Loki, still grumpy from his interrupted sleep, turned around to face Thor and snapped a “Then talk.”

“Why are you mad at me, brother?”

Denial was on his tongue but Loki somehow managed to choose a more truthful way instead. “I’m not mad, I just can’t believe the future I just saw. You left Asgard behind when they needed you most and somehow there is still a bright future for you.”

A beat passed and then “What did you see?”

“I’d rather not jinx us and say.” Loki crossed his arms.

“Fine, be that way,” Thor said, “but please remember that I didn’t leave Asgard behind out of my own volition nor stupidity.”

That was a lie, as far as Loki was concerned. Most things Thor did were out of stupidity. Some people would call it ‘brave’. Since there as such a thin line between brave and stupid, Loki decided to see them as one and the same.

“You on the other hand did leave us,” Thor continued and ouch, that stung. True, but still hurtful. Thor had seemed to have understood why Loki left, after hearing his Ragnarok’s predictions earlier, but apparently he was still bitter about it.

“You know damn well why I left, I couldn’t risk staying there when I saw me causing my people’s downfall.” Loki paused shortly but continued before Thor could interrupt him. “Now it has been brought to my attention that my leaving might be the thing that could have triggered Ragnarok in the first place so I am willing to go back.”

“You couldn’t have stopped father’s nor mother’s death, even if you had been there.”

“Father’s not, but maybe mother’s. Maybe if I had stayed with you, you wouldn’t have gotten so reckless.” Anger bubbled in Loki’s chest. He hadn’t known it was there so strongly. Odin’s and Frigga’s deaths were extremely fresh for him so strong emotions were to be expected. Still, he hadn’t known a part of him blamed Thor.

“Like you’re one to speak!” Thor raised his voice, turning Loki’s hands to fists. “You have shown no other behaviour than reckless ones. Maybe I would have been better if you had been there, but truth is you left us-me behind! Like we didn’t matter enough to stay for!”

Loki opened his mouth, ready to spit more venom out. Somehow he was able to close it again. He took a few moments to breathe deeply before he spoke again.

“I’m sorry for blaming you for things out of your control,” Loki said when his fists opened up again, “And I’m truly sorry for my past actions. I am aware my leaving Asgard was on impulse and my staying away was out of cowardice. I can’t change what happened-“

Loki took a deep breath again. “But I do want to fix my mistakes and help where I can now.”

After Thor hadn’t answered for a few long moments, Loki reached out with his Seidr. He sensed that Thor’s demeanour had changed. The anger had dissipated, leaving only soft sadness and determination.

“I apologize as well. I haven’t managed to control my anger problems and truthfully it didn’t occur to me to try. Not until after mother died. Now, this is no excuse for my behaviour and I’m sorry for blaming you too. I know you must have been scared when seeing those visions. I wish I had been a better brother, maybe then you would have felt you could talk to me about your troubles.

Loki nodded, feeling himself smile a sad smile. “It wasn’t your fault, I was in an emotional part of my life where I felt I couldn’t confide in anyone. I think I’m still in it to be honest.” Loki croaked out a weak laugh.

“If it wasn’t mine it wasn’t yours either,” Thor said, placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder. “I know I said earlier I wanted to save Asgard to become worthy of Mjolnir again but know that wasn’t the whole truth. I want to save Asgard because they’re my people and I want to do it with you because you’re my brother and there’s no one else I’d rather go into battle with.”

“You’re still a sap.” Loki blinked his tears back, even though his voice was wet and already betrayed them.

Thor just chuckled at that and enveloped Loki into a one armed hug.

“We still have things to talk through,” Loki said, he needed that to be made clear, “but I that would need to happen later. We have a realm to save now.”


End file.
